


sed lex dura lex

by cataclysmicwriter



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Humor, Interns & Internships, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 04:31:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13756365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cataclysmicwriter/pseuds/cataclysmicwriter
Summary: au where baekhyun has an internship at the college of law department, and he's stuck with the dean's adorably awkward nephew park chanyeol.





	sed lex dura lex

baekhyun knows he’s been gaping at the other intern for two hours now. he also knows that the receiving end of his attention is well-aware of this, but is too polite to say anything about it.

 

in baekhyun’s defense, though, it’s just a bit weird to see someone so (gorgeously) young and alive in an environment dominated by sad, spiritless adults. 

 

seoul national university’s college of law department, an office that no one would willingly enter, has professors that have permanent sneers on their faces and a secretary that looks quite done with life. 

 

it’s been two hours since baekhyun entered the department and four people had already growled at him. literally _growled_. like hungry, rabid wolves who feed on life energy. 

 

it’s not like no one warned him about it—he’s been told, multiple times, that studying the law is a stressful experience and the faculty deals with it almost every day for years. but, despite knowing that law school could suck the soul out of a person, he honestly did not expect this type of lifelessness. everyone just looks so dead. 

 

baekhyun is sure he will be too, what with his heart palipitating every time the other intern looks at him. the upperclassmen warned him about the office and everyone in it, but no one had warned him about _chanyeol._

 

park chanyeol, the clumsy and adorable giant who looks like he could just walk the streets and land a couple of modelling contracts, is the dean’s nephew. never mind the fact that they both started internship at the same day; chanyeol, apparently, was practically raised in that office so he was tasked to show baekhyun around. 

 

chanyeol, the bull-in-a-china-shop with pure sunshine shooting out of his eyes, raised in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. it’s so unbelievable that baekhyun likes to think this is the reason why he’s staring. 

 

“…any questions?” chanyeol asks nervously, fidgeting with the sleeves of his expensive sweater. 

 

he awkwardly meets baekhyun’s weird, stalkery gaze by looking down (chanyeol’s height is enormous, baekhyun thinks disconcertingly), the sun casting a gentle halo around his glossy dark locks and his eyelashes fanning slightly above his cheekbones every time he blinks. 

 

baekhyun never felt more attacked. 

 

the shorter clears his throat, looking around. then frowns. “wait. we’re talking about the students’ bathroom, right?” he asks, confused. 

 

chanyeol flushes prettily, and baekhyun has this strange idea of asking chanyeol to punch him in the face. stranger yet that he finds this arousing. “oh, um, right. it’s just a bathroom, i guess. sorry. i’m terrible at this.” 

 

chanyeol has been apologizing during the whole tour, and baekhyun is horrifyingly fond. “no, it’s fine.” he assures chanyeol immediately. “stop apologizing. you’re doing absolutely great,hun.”

 

baekhyun freezes. 

 

hun. _hun._

 

what the actual fuck.

 

baekhyun could feel blood rushing through his cheeks but it’s nothing compared to the traumatized look on chanyeol’s face. 

 

“oh shit, i’m sorry! i’m just so used to calling everyone hun. or baby. or sweetheart.” baekhyun cringes, realizing that this isn’t helping. “i’m so sorry.” he adds for good measure. 

 

“no, it’s fine. i’m just not used to…” the other one trails off. _a living, breathing person with a soul_? _an aggresively gay guy who wants you to choke him/punch him/kiss him/all the above?_ baekhyun wants to ask. 

 

because, that’s what he is. an aggresively gay guy who wants all that.

 

“used to what?” he opts to ask instead, knowing full well that voicing the questions in his head would have chanyeol running to the hills. 

 

“talking to other people. usually, i’m left to my own devices.” the other admits, laughing softly. if that isn’t the most beautiful thing baekhyun has heard since chen’s rendition of tears by so chan hwee, then he doesn’t know what is. 

 

“oh. well, i guess we’ll have to change that.” baekhyun tells him before giving out an awkward smile. 

 

another tense silence. 

 

_that’s like the seventh time now,_ baekhyun thinks miserably as they turn back towards the office. 

 

“alright.” he finally says, sick of all the unpleasant feeling in his stomach. “i’m tired of this uncomfortable exchange.”

 

they both stop by the stairs leading to the law department’s office entrance, chanyeol looking the slightest bit red. “oh, um? i’m sorry—”

 

“shhh, it’s not your fault.” baekhyun interrupts, raising a finger to chanyeol’s lips. big mistake. 

 

he immediately takes his finger off, trying hard not to blush. he could have lived without knowing what chanyeol’s lips felt like—pillowy and soft, too fucking soft— but now he knows and this. this complicates a lot of things. fuck.

 

“uh,” he coughs to try and gather his bearings, not meeting the other’s gaze. “um.”

 

“um.”

 

“that was. hmm.”

 

“uh.” 

 

“i’m… sorry for that.”

 

“right.”

 

“and i also would like to address my ceaseless staring, if that’s okay. i’m really sorry for staring. it is the main reason why we’re having this odd back-and-forth so please allow me to apologize.”

 

the taller intern blinks. “…okay.” 

 

“it’s not because i’m a psycho, and it’s not because you have something on your face,” baekhyun continues, sounding like a complete fool to his own ears, “but you’re just so… alive.”

 

chanyeol looks alarmed. “alive?”

 

“no no no, none of that weird murderer shit. jesus.” he sighs. “you’re just so happy for a person who hangs around these zombies.”

 

“zombies.” chanyeol repeats, his lips twitching. baekhyun’s heart beat follows the movement jerkily. “you mean the faculty?”

 

“well, yeah. they’re too serious and sad—did you know that four people growled at me already? they fucking _growled_. i’ve been in this shit for two hours and people are already so angry.” 

 

chanyeol lets out a full laugh and baekhyun is reminded that he is, in fact, very much gay. devastatingly so.

 

“you just caught them on a bad day. they’ll warm up to you eventually.” he assures and oddly enough, baekhyun believes him. if chanyeol tells him the sky is purple or that the clouds are raining hedgehogs, he would still believe him.

 

baekhyun’s literally gay ass is metaphorically fucked.

 

“also,” he continues, “i don’t really mind the staring. it’s cute.”

 

baekhyun breathing stutters; he did not know his heart could drop and start breakdancing in his stomach. he knows now. 

 

the shorter intern hopes the pained “hnnggghhh” sound he makes is all in his head, as chanyeol shoots him one more smile before going up towards the office. 

 

 

 

/

 

 

 

the interns each have a small table to work in, somewehere within the periphery of the secretary’s defunct eyes. two tiny computer desks and two green plastic chairs. baekhyun is equal parts amused and pained to see chanyeol’s long limbs dwarfing his table. fuck, how can he concentrate with those—

 

“thighs _._ ” he says miserably when he sat down. 

 

“excuse me?”

 

“ _lies_. the world is full of lies.”

 

chanyeol shoots him a worried glance. 

 

 

 

/

 

 

 

they are tasked to encode the grades of the fourth years.

 

baekhyun never would have thought that someone who knows his way around microsoft excel would turn him on so much. especially someone who has an ideal work ethic despite the sleepy afternoon light pouring from the windows. 

 

inspired, baekhyun decides to focus on his task at hand. 

 

“what are you—what’s that?” 

 

or not.

 

chanyeol raises an eyebrow at him questioningly, after doing a double-take on the office laptop assigned to baekhyun. 

 

baekhyun stares at his own creation, failing epically to recreate the image in his mind. all he can see is a clusterfuck of green cells with a thick line of brown in the middle. “guess.”

 

“is it scientific? something about the cell?”

 

the shorter intern shoots him a bewildered look. “wha- no, it’s a _tree_.”

 

the insult dissipates as quickly as it came when chanyeol laughs a pure, full-blown sound of joy. the sound makes baekhyun go uncharacteristically soft. 

 

“what a revolutionary piece, baekhyun-ah. it seems as if you’ve created your own artistic genre.”

 

baekhyun, who’s not the least bit offended, unwittingly lists _make chanyeol laugh_ as one of his life goals. 

 

 

 

/

 

 

 

despite everything that is insentient about the department, there is the faint static of the radio by the secretary’s desk playing billboard’s top 100. 

 

why there’s a radio in the office, baekhyun isn’t really sure. but the thought of the secretary dancing stoically to havana is highly entertaining. 

 

“why are you smiling?”

 

baekhyun turns to see chanyeol staring at him. he isn’t quite sure what to make of it. “secretary kim. dancing havana.”

 

chanyeol gives him a beautiful smile before schooling his features into something more blank. then he starts moving his limbs bonelessly, an impressively lifeless expression on his face. “havana, oh na na.”

 

the laugh that bursts out of baekhyun is admittedly too loud. he ignores the glares of the professors as he tries to stifle his laughter while watching chanyeol do an odd neck motion, the taller intern’s limbs fluidly moving with the faint sound of the radio.

 

“half of my heart is in—”

 

“chanyeol, oh my god.” baekhyun splutters out. chanyeol falls silent but continues to move in his absurd little dance while retaining the spiritless expression. 

 

baekhyun is full-on wheezing, body bent with an effort to control his laughter. he misses the affectionate gleam in chanyeol’s eyes as the taller intern watches the other laugh. 

 

 

 

/

 

 

 

“first day wasn’t so bad, right?” chanyeol asks him, as they walk out the office together.

 

baekhyun lets out a secretive grin. “no, not at all.”

**Author's Note:**

> wanted to add more chapters but i think this is okay? isn't it? 
> 
> also, this is based from my experience in immersion lol i'm still not done with mine and i've been @ it since december. the fuck.
> 
> follow me on twitter, @elysianbeauty


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